Falco Malfoy sat in the Slytherin common room with a scowl on his face. The source of his problems was none other than Asher Prince, the newest member of the Ravenclaws. Rumors of his brilliance had spread through Hogwarts and Falco was loosing his status. He needed to find a way to show Asher Prince his place in Hogwarts. No one insulted Falco Malfoy without punishment. Yet, at every turn, Asher Prince had always been there to not only flaunt his over-sized ego but insult and humiliate Falco.
Today, Falco would make the hyperactive Ravenclaw pay for his mistakes. As to how, Falco still did not know. Just then, Buteo Hawkins and Ezio Smith walked in. The two were two men Falco entrusted most of his important tasks to. For now, the two were just coming in to escort Falco to the garden. Today he had called a meeting with Corvus Syndicate Falco formed secretly in his first year.
When he arrived in the garden, Falco found most of his member had already arrived and started small discussions. Falco allowed small talk before his arrival, so long as they did not make a decision. They were Slytherins after all. Only the most cunning and ambitious survive. As he sat himself down on the center bench like a throne, silence fell in the garden. Falco looked around and saw that the most important members were here, so he began, "What have you found out about Asher Prince?"
Several answers came, but no new information came out. Falco knew about Asher's adoption and sudden appearance into the wizarding world several weeks ago. The fifth year had surprisingly good command over spells despite being wandless and using muggle artifacts as well as high intellect and cleverness. Courage was not lacking either and rumors of his weapon dueling skills were also spreading about.
Suddenly, another member pushed a young girl to the ground before Falco and said, "I found this 'thing' snooping around outside."
Falco peered down and saw a bush of brown frizzy hair wearing the colors of Ravenclaw and carrying a stack of heavy books. "You know it's not nice eavesdropping on others, Mudblood," Falco sneered as he used his boot to lift her face up. "Take her out back and beat her," he commanded as his other foot shot out and dove into her abdomen. She hit the ground grasping her stomach and wheezing in pain. "On a second thought, beat her here. We'll show the Ravenclaw what it means to insult and humiliate the great Falco Malfoy."
A boot slammed the girls face to the ground and laughter filled the air, but suddenly, the back of a fist hit the cheek of the Slytherin standing on the girls head. He was thrown to the ground, spinning in rapid succession. The others that surrounded the girl hit the ground unconscious. "For a Slytherin, you do stoop pretty low," a voice spoke coldly.
Anger filled Falco as he saw Asher standing before the Mudblood, but then he had found the egoistic boy's weakness. With one hand, he signaled for his syndicate to attack as over forty wands raised up and spells shot out. Suddenly, the spells exploded and smoke screened the area. With a wave of his wand, Falco cleared the smoke to reveal Asher standing before the crying Hermione. He had not moved an inch while thousands of burnt pieces of playing cards lay in a circle around him.
"Hermione, don't move and inch," Asher said as he whipped out his steel cable. He could not use his daggers against other students, nor was this a proper duel. This was a brawl and the odds were 48:1. Asher smiled. He liked these odds. With one flick of his wrist, one end of the cable shot out disarming one Slytherin while knocking another off his feet.
Spells shot from all directions, but Asher whipped his cable around with skill and precision honed to near perfection by Rowena and his time spent as a Gladiator. Each spell was carefully dodged or deflected and each attack was countered with quick attacks. In five minutes, Asher had taken down roughly thirty Slytherins, but the brawl was getting tougher. He was able to disarm the remaining Slytherins from their wands, but Asher did not want to take any of them on in a fist fight. He turned back slightly to look at Hermione who was curled up in the ground next to him. She was in no condition to run away and Asher could not Planeswalk at the moment.
A red jet shout out towards Asher's chest, but because of his delayed reaction, Asher raised his left arm to block it. His arm fell limp to his side and Asher cursed his stupidity for letting Benicio borrow the gauntlets. "How long can you protect the, Mudblood, Asher Prince?" Falco sneered as he shot another spell from his wand.
Asher ducked under the spell, reached down with his right arm to pick up Hermione to run, but an arm grabbed him and tossed him into a nearby tree. Asher's back slammed against the trunk of the tree and he let out a cry of pain. He hit the ground just as hard, but quickly got up onto his feet again. Hermione was left out in the open! Asher leaped forward and pulled Hermione away just before one of the larger Slytherins stomped down with his foot. They rolled on the grass a few feet before Asher was able to stop, but another Slytherin slammed a wooden bat against the back of his head.
Pain exploded and his vision went blurry, but Asher's battle senses had not. He kicked up with his right foot catching the attacker on the chin and effectively knocking the older boy out. A punch followed quickly by a kick to his side threw Asher to the ground next to Hermione, but he lashed out with his cable wildly sending the attacker back. Asher, still unable to see, pulled Hermione close and used his body to shield any more physical attacks.
"You cannot fight while you are protecting that Mudblood!" he heard Falco laugh, but Asher did not care. He felt heavy pounding of boots onto his back as well as some punches, but Asher held firm to his position.
Suddenly, Asher heard a unified cry of, "Stupefy!" The pounding and stomping stopped and when Asher lifted his head, he saw Cho leading a group of fifty or so Ravenclaws. They all had their wands poised at Falco and his lackies.
Falco sheathed his wand and said, "You won't be this lucky next time, Asher. Protect that Mudblood well, if you can at all." Falco retreated with a laugh.
"Ennevrate," Cho said relieving Asher of his stunned arm. "You know it's pretty foolish to take on the Falco and his lackeys by yourself."
"I thought I did fairly well until the end," Asher replied with a chuckle. He tried to stand, but collapse over. His back and side were aching from the beating by Falco's lackeys at the end. "How's Hermione?"
"She has a mild concussion," Cho replied as Terry Boot and Michael Corner lifted Asher onto their shoulders. "Help him to the infirmary." Terry and Michael nodded as they helped the injured Asher out of the garden.
"What happened here?" the voice of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher asked. The man knelt down next to Hermione and checked her. Then, from under his cloak, pulled out a potion and poured it into her mouth. Cho had little time to respond before Hermione swallowed the potion. "How did Miss Granger end up with a light concussion?"
"Um... We're not sure," Cho replied.
"We came when we heard that Asher was defending Hermione against Falco and his lackeys," Kelly responded. For a moment, she thought she saw the professor smile.
"Take Hermione back to her room, Miss Chang," Franklin told the older Ravenclaw. "Is Asher heading towards the infirmary?"
Cho nodded as she lifted the smaller girl up from the ground with the help of Kelly. For the first time, Cho noticed how frail Hermione's body was. Hermione was far too light for he age and height. Cho knew Hermione was bony, but did not expect Hermione to be in condition. It made her wonder why and how this could have happened. Hermione never missed a meal, nor does she eat a small amount.
Cho turned back to the Dark Arts teacher and asked, "Um... Professor, I know this may not be your field, but do you happen to know why Hermione's body is in the condition it is now?"
Franklin looked from Cho to Kelly and back. It seems that his idiotic son was beginning to weave friendships for Hermione. The two girls genuinely looked worried. "The body reflects the mind as the mind reflects the body. A healthy body will nourish a healthy mind and vice versa. In Miss Granger's case, she has been suffering alone for a long time causing her mind to slowly deteriorate and it is reflected in her body." Franklin knew the two girls were clever enough to understand what needs to be done to help Hermione. They did not have to be Ravenclaws to know the answer, just caring human beings. He let the two girls carry Hermione away and stood in the garden looking over the events of the past few weeks.
What worried Franklin was not Hermione, since he knew Asher would one day heal her, but Falco Malfoy. Falco was like an older version of Draco in their old world, but far more powerful. Franklin watched the young man's every move carefully from the second day when Asher waved off Falco's hand. Benicio had told Franklin about the Corvus Syndicate that few people knew of. Benicio also told Franklin that most Slytherins aspired to join the Corvus Syndicate. Slytherins valued power beyond anything else and Falco offered power to those who could join. There was no opposing power to his Syndicate which Franklin found odd. Usually Gryffindors were the first the oppose Slytherins, but no one stood up.
Franklin was glad to hear that Draco and his four friends were not interested in joining the Syndicate. There was more hope for the Draco of this time than Benicio in his Hogwarts years. That was a fact that Franklin was proud of. He sent Benicio to Slytherin in high hope that Draco would not follow the same path as Benicio. On the other hand, Harry and his friends were at their worst. Franklin had difficulty controlling the quintet. They pulled pranks every chance they could in retaliation against Franklin, all of which he foiled without breaking a sweat.
It seemed that Rufus did not have the same control over Hogwarts Dumbledore had. Dumbledore knew all the events inside of Hogwarts and turned a blind eye towards the harmless ones and intervened if necessary. Rufus knew little of what went on in Hogwarts and only worried about the professors he hired. The old lion was more focused on keeping his position than running the school. Thus he let Hogwarts run wild; so wild that it stunned Franklin in his first few days. Especially with the dual quintets pranking every other student. They were the second generation of Marauders.
Franklin now had more tasks added to his list. Bring order back to Hogwarts would not be as easy as he previously thought. He often found himself wondering if it was possible to have order in Hogwarts.